1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an indenter for measurement of fractoemissions from specimens being subjected to indentation hardness testing, scratch testing and other such tests by a material tester.
2. Prior Art Statement
Hardness testers are used for measuring material properties such as hardness and toughness. This is done by loading a specimen of the material with an indenter formed of a hard material such as diamond, and measuring the size of the indents and cracks thus produced in the specimen. Scratch hardness is determined by measuring the width of scratches produced on the surface of the specimen by an indenter. Thus, tests such as these are used to examine the mechanical properties of materials.
It is known that deformation and fracturing of solids, especially inorganic materials, induces the emission of charged particles such as electrons and ions. It is also known that the mechano-electrical properties of the materials can be ascertained by examining these emissions. Most of the detectors used for detecting such emission are electrode-based current collectors such as channeltrons, Geiger-Muller tubes and the like, which have to be operated in a vacuum or in a special gaseous environment. Hardness testing under atmospheric conditions has therefore been limited to measuring the above mechanical properties by examining deformation and cracking produced in the surface of the material being tested.
This has given rise to a strong demand for the development of a technique that would enable both charged particle emissions and mechanical properties to be measured at the same time.